Lipton Ice Tea has tapped the social media platform for a fight against stress in Mumbai. A campaign called LOL (Laugh Out with Lipton) targeted Twitter for stress-filled or complaining tweets from the city. After finding where the tweet originated from, a gift was delivered on behalf of Lipton Ice Tea to the person who tweeted. The idea not only tapped the digital platform but also engaged the TG on ground by tweeting its own whereabouts while delivering the gifts.

Genie in the bottle
Speaking on the objective of the campaign Rashi Goel, Business Manager, Lipton Ice Tea India says that the proposition of Lipton Ice Tea is to provide a naturally refreshing, differentiated beverage experience. â€œSince our TG is extremely connected, it was imperative that LIT was active on the digital platforms. Chill out Surpriseâ€™ was aimed at integrating digital with the real world experiences. In addition, the hamper was the perfect way of bringing alive the brand proposition of Drink Positive.â€

Rashi Goel, Business Manager, Lipton Ice Tea India

The campaign was created by Social Seety, an agency that specialises in providing social media solutions for brands. Sharing the brief for the campaign, the agencyâ€™s Director, Kowkab Naim says, â€œThe brief was to capture the brandâ€™s essence and at the same time work out on creating awareness around the product & category.â€

By monitoring Tweets in a week, which were centred on negative feelings, professional and personal, related to the weather, work, weekend etc, the team tracked twitter users and gave away gift hampers consisting of LIT merchandise and personalised mementos.

Commenting on the choice of media, Naim feels, â€œSocial media is a platform where people vent out their frustration be it work, traffic etc. It is the place where people talk. It is communication based on word of mouth and the brand stood for the motto â€˜take a chill pillâ€™. We gave the consumers a reason to smile & relax!

Pitcher perfect
According to Lipton Ice Tea, the campaign saw more than 10 tweets per minute with more than 3,000 interactions and reached more than 1.5 lakh people. The brand saw a 20 per cent jump in number of followers in the six day campaign. Citing the reason for the campaignâ€™s success, Goel adds, â€œEverybody loves a surprise & recognition. The â€˜tweepleâ€™ were surprised and excited with the Chill Out Hamper. For us, speed and agility were critical to ensure same day turnarounds â€“ which added on the fun element!â€

Kowkab Naim, Director, Social Seety

For the campaign LIT targeted young adults in the 18 to 24 years age bracket. The brand offers its products to early jobbers. According to Naim, â€œthe core TG for the brand is anywhere between college students from 19 to 24 years, who are looking for more & differentiated options in beverages.â€

Naim says that the response of the campaign was phenomenal, the turnaround time of the campaign was quick, â€œthe tweet went around 12 pm and the hampers were distributed at half past six that very evening. So there was instant gratification. The brand touched the TGâ€™s sentiments and in a positive way.â€

According to HULâ€™s website, in a 50:50 joint venture, PepsiCo India and Hindustan Unilever launched the product in India under Pepsi Lipton International in 2011. Priced at Rs 25 for a 350 ml PET bottle, Lipton Ice Tea is available in two variants; Green Ice Tea in mint and lemon flavour and Black Ice Tea in lemon flavour. HUL launched the product in the tetra and powder formats. The powder is priced at Rs 85 for the lemon variant and Rs 95 for the mint and lemon variant for 500 gm.

Goel says that the sales have been steadily growing since the launch of the product. After a successful launch in the five metros, LIT is now aiming at strengthening its presence in these cities before venturing to add more cities.